Capital pours into AI x satellite, SpaceX rival's stock price doubles in a year
The listing of SpaceX has drawn more attention to space concept stocks (Photographed by Keisuke Endo in New York on June 12)
The World Economic Forum predicts that the space industry market will increase to $1.8 trillion by 2035, three times that of 2023. Governments around the world are increasing their relevant budgets. In addition, private capital, which focuses on the high compatibility between space and AI, is also flowing in...
Capital is flowing into global space concept stocks. The World Economic Forum predicts that the space industry market will increase to $1.8 trillion by 2035, three times that of 2023. Governments around the world are increasing their relevant budgets. In addition, private capital, which focuses on the high compatibility with artificial intelligence (AI), is also flowing in.
The investment ETF "Tema Space Innovators ETF", which invests in global space concept stocks, has attracted approximately $3 billion in the past month. The background is the expectation of the growth of the space industry.
"The space industry is about to take off," said Takeshi Noda, a senior portfolio manager at Amova Asset Management Americas.
Data from venture capital firm Space Capital shows that more than 80% of the investment funds raised in the space industry are in the satellite field. In addition, rocket launches account for 11%, and emerging fields (lunar landing and space stations) only account for 3%.
Satellite communication is gradually becoming a profit base and is expected to achieve stable growth as a continuous charging business. Using artificial intelligence to analyze satellite images is expected to significantly improve the analysis accuracy of crop growth conditions and the assessment of building damage during large-scale disasters.
The stock prices of companies engaged in satellite communication have risen rapidly, mainly in the United States and Europe. The stock price of US-based AST SpaceMobile, which is attracting attention as a competitor to SpaceX, has more than doubled in one year. It is attracting attention as a "mini Starlink" and is cooperating with Rakuten Mobile, a subsidiary of Japan's Rakuten Group, to carry out direct communication between smartphones and satellites.
The stock price of French satellite communication giant Eutelstat has risen by approximately 60% since the beginning of 2026, and the stock price of US-based satellite communication provider Iridium Communications has also risen to about 2.6 times. The stock price of US-based Planet Labs PBC, which uses artificial intelligence to improve the clarity of observation data and provides services such as change detection and analysis, has risen by 55% since the beginning of the year.
Yasuhiko Yamazaki, a fund manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management, emphasized that "in addition to the development and operation of satellites, the ability to build services and platforms using satellite data and form an ecosystem is very important in terms of competitiveness."
Japan is also taking active actions. The stock price of Astroscale Holdings, which is engaged in satellite monitoring and space debris removal, has doubled compared to the end of 2025. There is less competition in the space debris removal business. Shoichi Arizawa, a researcher in the investment research department of Iwai Cosmo Securities, believes that "(Astroscale) is actively operating overseas, and one can feel its confidence in growth."
Axelspace Holdings operates earth observation satellites and is involved in the provision and analysis of observation data. It provides data on crop growth conditions to legal entities operating large farms in South America. Daisuke Orita, a director of the company, said, "We will provide services with higher added value."
The field has also expanded beyond satellites. The "Tokio Marine Space-related Stock Fund" launched by Tokio Marine Asset Management has included US-based Intuitive Machines, which provides communication services between the moon and the earth.
Raymond Cunha of Voya Investment Management, which is responsible for the operation, said, "Although there are issues in terms of profitability, we believe this is a potential market."
With the listing of SpaceX on the US Nasdaq on the 12th, it is expected that the attention to space concept stocks will further increase.
SpaceX's financing amount reached $75 billion, and its total market value at the time of listing was approximately $2 trillion, making it the largest IPO in US history. Kimiya Mikuni, the chief investment officer of Nissay Asset Management, said, "We are paying attention to stocks with a relatively low total market value related to SpaceX."
Materials released by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2025 show that the growth rate of the space market "is twice that of the global GDP growth rate and is comparable to the growth rate of the semiconductor industry (6 - 8%)."
The huge investments of governments around the world are considered to be the factors driving up the growth rate. In the United States, the budget of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) alone reached $25 billion in fiscal year 2025. In 2026, the European Space Agency (ESA), which is joined by 23 European countries, invested 8.2 billion euros. The Japanese government has also included 1.0446 trillion yen in its space-related budget for fiscal year 2026, a 12% increase from the previous fiscal year.
On the other hand, profitability is still a long way off. Recently, due to the trend of investors securing funds in hand before the listing of SpaceX, relevant stocks have been sold off.
Last weekend, Astroscale Holdings also released an expectation of a large loss, and the selling situation also spread to relevant stocks in Japan on the 15th. Whether it can meet the market's expectations of rapid growth is putting its true value to the test.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Nikkei Chinese Net" (ID: rijingzhongwenwang), written by Haruka Yamashita, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.